USERADD(8) NetBSD System Manager's Manual USERADD(8)
NAMEuseradd -- add a user to the system
SYNOPSISuseradd -D [-F] [-bbase-dir] [-eexpiry-time] [-finactive-time]
[-ggid | name | =uid] [-kskel-dir] [-Llogin-class]
[-Mhome-perm] [-rlowuid..highuid] [-sshell]
useradd [-moSv] [-bbase-dir] [-ccomment] [-dhome-dir] [-eexpiry-time]
[-finactive-time] [-Gsecondary-group] [-ggid | name | =uid]
[-kskel-dir] [-Llogin-class] [-Mhome-perm] [-ppassword]
[-rlowuid..highuid] [-sshell] [-uuid] userDESCRIPTION
The useradd utility adds a user to the system, creating and populating a
home directory if necessary. Any skeleton files will be provided for the
new user if they exist in the skel-dir directory (see the -k option).
Default values for the base directory, the time of password expiry, the
time of account expiry, primary group, the skeleton directory, the range
from which the uid will be allocated, and default login shell can be pro-
vided in the /etc/usermgmt.conf file, which, if running as root, is cre-
ated using the built-in defaults if it does not exist.
The first form of the command shown above (using the -D option) sets and
displays the defaults for the useradd utility.
See user(8) for more information about EXTENSIONS.
-bbase-dir
Set the default base directory. This is the directory to which
the user directory is added, which will be created if the -m
option is specified and no -d option is specified.
-D without any further options, -D will show the current defaults
which will be used by the useradd utility. Together with one of
the options shown for the first version of the command, -D will
set the default to be the new value. See usermgmt.conf(5) for
more information.
-eexpiry-time
Set the time at which the new user accounts will expire. It
should be entered in the form ``month day year'', where month is
the month name (the first three characters are sufficient), day
is the day of the month, and year is the year. Time in seconds
since the epoch (UTC) is also valid. A value of 0 can be used to
disable this feature.
-F Force the user to change their password upon next login.
-finactive-time
Set the time at which passwords for the new user accounts will
expire. Also see the -e option above.
-ggid | groupname | =uid
Set the default group for new users.
-kskel-dir
Set the skeleton directory in which to find files with which to
populate new users' home directories.
-Llogin-class
Set the default login class for new users. See login.conf(5) for
more information on user login classes. This option is included
if built with EXTENSIONS.
-Mhome-perm
sets the default permissions of the newly created home directory
if -m is given. The permission is specified as an octal number,
with or without a leading zero.
-rlowuid..highuid
Set the low and high bounds of uid ranges for new users. A new
user can only be created if there are uids which can be assigned
from one of the free ranges. This option is included if built
with EXTENSIONS.
-sshell
Set the default login shell for new users.
In the second form of the command, after setting any defaults, and then
reading values from /etc/usermgmt.conf, the following command line
options are processed:
-bbase-directory
Set the base directory name, in which the user's new home direc-
tory will be created, should the -m option be specified.
-ccomment
Set the comment field (also, for historical reasons known as the
GECOS field) which will be added for the user, and typically will
include the user's full name, and, perhaps, contact information
for the user.
-dhome-directory
Set the home directory which will be created and populated for
the user, should the -m option be specified.
-eexpiry-time
Set the time at which the current password will expire for new
users. It should be entered in the form ``month day year'',
where month is the month name (the first three characters are
sufficient), day is the day of the month, and year is the year.
Time in seconds since the epoch (UTC) is also valid. A value of
0 can be used to disable this feature. See passwd(5) for more
details.
-finactive-time
Set the time at which new user accounts will expire. Also see
the -e option above.
-Gsecondary-group
Add the user to the secondary group secondary-group in the
/etc/group file. The secondary-group may be a comma-delimited
list for multiple groups. Or the option may be repeated for mul-
tiple groups. (16 groups maximum.)
-ggid | name | =uid
Give the group name or identifier to be used for the new user's
primary group. If this is `=uid', then a uid and gid will be
picked which are both unique and the same, and a line added to
/etc/group to describe the new group.
-kskeleton directory
Give the skeleton directory in which to find files with which to
populate the new user's home directory.
-Llogin-class
Set the login class for the user being created. See
login.conf(5) for more information on user login classes. This
option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.
-Mhome-perm
sets the permissions of the newly created home directory if -m is
given. The permission is specified as an octal number, with or
without a leading zero.
-m Create a new home directory for the new user.
-o Allow the new user to have a uid which is already in use for
another user.
-ppassword
Specify an already-encrypted password for the new user.
Encrypted passwords can be generated with pwhash(1). The pass-
word can be changed later by using chpass(1) or passwd(1). This
option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.
-S Allow samba user names with a trailing dollar sign to be added to
the system. This option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.
-sshell
Specify the login shell for the new user.
-uuid Specify a uid for the new user. Boundaries for this value can be
preset for all users by using the range field in the
/etc/usermgmt.conf file.
-v Enable verbose mode - explain the commands as they are executed.
This option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.
Once the information has been verified, useradd uses pwd_mkdb(8) to
update the user database. This is run in the background, and, at very
large sites could take several minutes. Until this update is completed,
the password file is unavailable for other updates and the new informa-
tion is not available to programs.
FILES
/etc/usermgmt.conf
/etc/skel/*
/etc/login.conf
EXIT STATUS
The useradd utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSOchpass(1), passwd(1), pwhash(1), group(5), login.conf(5), passwd(5),
usermgmt.conf(5), pwd_mkdb(8), user(8), userdel(8), usermod(8)HISTORY
The useradd utility first appeared in NetBSD 1.5. It is based on the
addnerd package by the same author.
AUTHORS
The useradd utility was written by Alistair G. Crooks <agc@NetBSD.org>.
Support for setting permissions of home directories was added by Hubert
Feyrer.
NetBSD 8.0 January 13, 2009 NetBSD 8.0

You can also request any man page by name and (optionally) by section:

Command:

Section:

Architecture:

Collection:

Use the DEFAULT collection to view manual pages
for third-party software.